Beginner restoration of a 82 XJ550 Maxim

Oops! just realized we are talking about a 550, please ignore as your carb spacing is tighter.

 

The surge tank would definitely be a good option ! and local parts are always nice, maybe I could look into that. probably cheaper than i can make one up lol

 

My bike is a xj650. guess I kinda hopped in on the wrong convo lol

 

Alright boys. You know between a new baby, moving, and all sorts of things it's been slow progress but hey! I'm making small steps!

I was able to finally get in there and do the Shim swaps, from the last posts of mine you can follow the whole logic behind that. Thanks everyone for the help. I believe that now my valve clearances are now in spec. The moment of truth was finally here, after the bike sitting for like 8 months ish since that last rough run, I got the battery back in, got my little aux tank with more ethanol free gas, and.... can't get the dang thing to run!

Now, here is the situation. Last year late summer I took the carbs all apart, got it all back together, changed oil, plugs, etc, and got it running (roughly though, with some ghost revving) I was using ethanol free then as well. Thats when I decided to do the valve clearances, and life happened. Now, I believe I put it all back together the way it should be like I had it, but I'm not getting it to turn over. Aux tank just hangs from the handlebars, goes directly into the carbs so no petcock. I let the carbs fill up first then when it stopped I knew things were full and I tried.

In my other small engines I use ethanol free, and the carb doesn't seem to get gummed up or gross, after the winter I can usually pull a few times and start things right back up!

Hate is a gentle word for how I feel the process is for taking the carb out from that unholy small space and messing with it I'm curious if anyone has any simple ideas for me. Or are things pointing back to the carbs? Any things I can do without taking them totally apart again?

 

-Heat gun to soften the boots,
-Light Smear of engine oil or Vaseline on the manifold boots ... NOT on the airbox boots— you want the stiction to help the clamps hold them in place.

 

Yeah I've used those tips to help get the carbs out the other times. However, I was more wondering 1. if you guys thought for sure it was the Carbs that needed to be recleaned even though they shouldn't have much in them, just evaporated ethanol free gas, and now new gas. 2. If it is the carbs, is there anything I can put in them, or smaller parts to do prior to a full pull apart again?

 

Did you sync the carbs when you put them back on? I’m not seeing that in the description

 

I did not sync them. About 8 months ago I had done the church of clean, then put it back together, and got things to run a little bit but it was really rough. So I knew I needed to do the valve clearances as well. Fast forward, I finally did the valve clearances, but now I can't get it to run or fire.